Does anyone recall this ballet themed book from the 1970s/80s?

[Iamthemoom]

In the late 1970s or early 1980s I read a children's/YA novel about a young woman who wanted to be a ballet dancer. She suffered an accident which I recall as being hit by a train crossing a railway track, and she lost the toes on one foot. She thought she would never dance again but somehow (implausibly) she did dance again.

All the other books I recall from childhood definitely exist but I cannot find any trace of this book or anyone that remembers it. I asked AI but they unhelpfully sent me on a wild goose chase by making up a book and an author that doesn't exist!

Does anyone remember a book that matches this description? I know there are other ballet/accident/convalescing books but the train and the toes are the thing I remember the most about this book but I'm starting to wonder if I dreamed it!

Don't recall it and I read a lot of ballet books from that period. I hope someone does remember it, it is frustrating when you remember a book and nobody else does!

Noel Streatfield book?

Gemma and her sisters (Noel Streatfield)? I had the four books but I don't remember the content.

I'm not sure it's that one though.

Was it Spellbound a Mills and Boon book?

I think this is Ballerina by Nada Curcija-Prodanovic.

Was it Drina the Ballerina? I seem to recall she was constantly beset by tragedy. I loved those books 😂

I read and reread them too! 😍
But I don't think it is the series OP is looking for... certainly don't remember her losing her toes.

Definitely not Drina!

No I didn’t think so, but she could easily have and I have forgotten. So many hardships in her way to stardom 🩰
Not the red shoes either, that was the one where she danced herself to death I think.

Haha, ballet really was tough back then

Ballet Shoes by Noel Streatfield

You're good!! It has to be this one OP - I just read a plot summary that was almost exactly your OP!

Don't be daft, no one had toes amputated or anything gruesome in Ballet Shoes.

Definitely NOT a Noel Streatfeild book. I read and re-read Ballet Shoes and all the Gemma books.

Nothing like them.

@Iamthemoom hi, have you checked back?

No I thought it could be and I ordered it to check because I did wonder if I’d sneaked it off my granny’s shelf but no, she is hurt in a car accident.

I don’t think so. I read all of those too.

I will check this one out, thank you. ☺️

No I’ve never heard of these so I don’t think so but will check them out.

For some reason I haven’t had notifications on this so just thought no one had replied!

Thank you all for your answers. I’m going to check out Ballerina by Nada Curcija-Prodanovic in the hope this is the one!

@maximist thank you, thank you, thank you! Finally I can prove I'm not going crazy! This is the book! The plot sounded so implausible my entire family thought I imagined it!

Glad to have been of help! Hope you enjoy it as much this time round :)